The ENR New England Top Young Professionals selected for 2024 represent the cream of the crop in the region’s construction sector. Their energy, vision and sharp analysis are elevating the industry and bettering their communities. Each of the 10 individuals chosen this year from a pool of dozens of candidates has a unique skill set based on the career paths they have followed.
Working across the region—which includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont—the winners were all under age 40 as of Jan. 1.
A panel of industry leaders made the selections based on the experience, education, leadership and community service of the candidates. Choosing the winners was no easy task for this year’s judges: Manny Hoyo, senior superintendent at Boston-based Skanska USA Building Inc., and Ariel Greenlaw, HNTB traffic, toll and ITS department manager.
One New England winner—Andre Barbour—also has been chosen for the ENR national Top 20 Under 40 list. He will be recognized for his achievements in March at the ENR Emerging Leader’s Forum in Chicago and will be featured along with the other winners in a cover story online in May and in the May 13 print issue of ENR.
Other regional winners include Garrett Bolella, working for the city of Norwalk, Conn., who has the spark to reinvigorate critical projects and help them reach completion; Suzanne Broadbent, a senior communications director at Kennedy Jenks Consultants, who is engaging with the latest technology tools to help grow her firm’s brand; and Liam Murphy, who leads critical conversations at BR+A on sustainable design and implementation strategies for institutional clients.
Whether these winners launched their career paths in college or as far back as grade school, they all now share the determination to develop better practices and outcomes for their employers while improving the industry and the communities they serve. Keep reading to learn more about the 2024 group of ENR New England Top Young Professionals.
Andre Barbour
36, DEI director is driving force for broad industry workforce inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion Director
NEI General Contracting
Randolph, Mass.
Barbour learned about construction from his father, who was an architect. Working on his first assignment at a 48-unit affordable rental property being developed by Boston nonprofit Nuestra CDC, he helped develop and manage walk-in applicant review procedures for project hires.
After leaving university studies in his junior year, Barbour jump-started a career in workforce development, community outreach and engagement. As a driving force now of NEI’s workforce diversity and inclusion initiatives, Barbour has spearheaded the Workforce Opportunity Resource Center in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood to engage minority-owned subcontractors and the local workforce to promote career development and business growth within the local construction community.
The center offers workshops on résumé building, how to read construction plans and safety issues that reflect Barbour’s goal of removing systemic obstacles to work advancement in communities of color.
Barbour is involved with a host of industry groups and community-based organizations in the Boston area, including the Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens, the Gavin Foundation, Project Turn Around and the Massachusetts Minority Contractors Association.
He is also a liaison with Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston. Barbour also was selected to be one of this year’s ENR national Top 20 Under 40 winners.
Garrett Bolella
36, Traffic engineer creates momentum
Assistant Director – Transportation, Mobility and Parking
City of Norwalk
Norwalk, Conn.
Bolella has both the vision to innovate new city transportation projects and the ability to rejuvenate work that needs help reaching the finish line.
In 2017, Stamford, Conn., officials hired Bolella as a lead traffic engineer for a newly created transportation bureau. Within days, he began redesigning the city road network, planning for a new road design and pavement layouts and creating Stamford’s first buffered bike lane to improve safety for cyclists.
Bolella’s most notable transportation projects in Stamford included design of the city’s first roundabout. The project was initiated in 2003 but had stalled, so Bolella used his consulting experience and leadership prowess to organize community meetings that led to finalizing the design in 2019 and securing funding through the Connecticut Dept. of Transportation.
In 2020, Bolella was elevated to assistant director for transportation mobility and parking for the city of Norwalk. As in Stamford, he rejuvenated the city center that had never fully recovered from a 1955 flood. Following 35 years of planning without results, the engineer led the design for a $27-million revitalization project and secured grant money to enable its completion.
Among his volunteer activities, Bolella works with a University of Connecticut student group every year on real-life projects throughout their entire senior year related to their class on engineering and design.
Suzanne Broadbent
38, Communications expert deploys tech tools to work smarter
Senior Director of Communications, Principal
Kennedy Jenks Consultants
Greenwich, Conn.
Broadbent entered the industry directly with her undergraduate degree, working for a unit of environmental consulting firm Arcadis Pirnie acquired in 2009. At 26, she pitched, then posted the first social media posts for the Arcadis U.S. operating company, heralding the era of content marketing for the firm.
She later joined Golder Associates as director of internal communications, the youngest person on the firm’s U.S. leadership team. After the firm was acquired by WSP in 2021, she assisted with its integration into the larger firm.
Broadbent joined Kennedy Jenks in 2022 and established in-house communications and improved digital assets, always looking for ways to leverage technology for smarter communications delivery. Since being named principal in 2023, she has been leading the launch of a national webinar program and is guiding the firm’s updates of its digital assets to foster growth and refresh its digital brand.
Committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, Broadbent recently completed the eCornell diversity and inclusion program held by the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Community outreach is also a priority for Broadbent. She volunteers as a co-vice president of educational enrichment for a public school PTA group and has adapted technical education programming for the Girl Scouts.
Stephanie Crepeau
29, Superintendent excels in leadership roles
Superintendent
Bond
Medford, Mass.
A sixth grade woodshop class sparked an interest in construction for Crepeau. In high school, she developed more experience in building homes for families in need, which then led to earning a bachelor’s degree in construction management at Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Crepeau clinched a full-time job at Bond in 2017 as a field engineer and was elevated to superintendent a few years later. As assistant superintendent on the emergency department addition for Elliot Hospital in Manchester, N.H., she led the team in preconstruction services and assisted with budgeting and feasibility analysis.
Outside of work, Crepeau is an adjunct professor at Wentworth who is committed to supporting training and development of the future workforce. Joining with the Association of General Contractors of Massachusetts, she interviewed many women professionals for the Building Women in Construction podcast.
Seeking to mimic what helped her as a high school student in navigating toward a future career, Crepeau launched an annual jobsite tour program at her alma mater, Pinkerton Academy in New Hampshire. By also touring jobsites at institutions such as Harvard University, MIT and Elliot Hospital, she says students get the opportunity to discover their interests and help establish their future careers.
Leanne Greisen
39, Unique skill set for aging infrastructure
Asset Management Consultant
HDR
Portland, Maine
Greisen uses her skill set of hydropower planning, operations and maintenance along with asset management best practices and asset investment planning to assist clients with aging infrastructure and changing market conditions.
With 15 years of mechanical engineering and project management under her belt, Greisen has developed her technical skills and asset management best practices to improve asset hierarchies and condition assessment plans and define service levels.
As a liaison between engineering and asset management, she is technical lead in the power industry network CEATI Asset Management in Generation Program for a project called Hydro Generation Guidelines for Enterprise Risk Management.
Greisen recently served as project manager and technical lead for the Tennessee Valley Authority, developing its dam safety condition assessment criteria. She was also assistant project manager for a large, dissolved oxygen improvements project in Alabama and Georgia.
Greisen serves as secretary of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ hydro power technical committee and is co-author of several chapters of a reference book on mechanical engineering for the hydropower industry. She is also active as a mentor and participates in a young professionals’ mentorship program involving employees in HDR’s New England offices.
The mother of two young sons, Greisen has transitioned to working part time but still is having a full-time impact on the company, HDR says.
Christina Hoover
31, Industry DEI advocate focuses on Boston’s underserved populations
Architect and Senior Associate
Elkus Manfredi Architects
Boston
Since joining Elkus Manfredi after graduating magna cum laude from Syracuse University School of Architecture, Hoover has provided her expertise, discipline and creativity to a mix of major projects.
Those include the 100,000-sq-ft renovation of academic facilities at Boston-based Simmons University to accommodate state-of-the-art labs and innovative technologies; 150 Cambridgeside Place, a 14-story mixed-use building in Cambridge, Mass.; and 180 Western Ave., a pedestrian-oriented mixed-use project with 10,000 sq ft of outdoor amenity spaces in Allston, a neighborhood of Boston that is being transformed by Harvard University’s new research campus. She has also worked on the Boston Landing project, an emerging health and wellness district in the city.
Hoover is committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion at her firm and to helping cultivate a more welcoming and supportive work environment. She has finished a 1.5-year-long tenure as chair of its committee for inclusion, diversity, equity and awareness that was established to help the firm build a more sustainable DEI-focused culture.
As a member of Anchor Church Boston, she is an active member of its global impact board and is involved in many volunteer efforts, including its refugee program. She also helps the church deliver meals and hygiene products to Boston’s unhoused population.
Marissa Maurice
39, Accountant expands industry knowledge
Accounting Specialist
Corderman & Co.
Boston
While working as a server at a Boston restaurant, Maurice discovered her passion and acumen for accounting and finance while helping balance the eatery’s books. After swiftly advancing in the restaurant sector, she shifted to construction accounting—overseeing travel and expenses for Shawmut Design and Construction, where she audited expense reports nationally.
Since joining Corderman & Co. in 2019, Maurice has implemented strategies of continuous improvement. To streamline communication between the company's finance and other departments, she has improved accounts payable and payroll processes for greater efficiency.
Maurice manages a range of vastly different responsibilities, including working closely with 60-plus personnel in the field with differing levels of experience to support the input of their time for finance department needs.
Continual self-improvement has helped Maurice establish a strong foothold in accounting and its application to the construction industry.
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, she has bolstered her skills with advanced coursework in industry accounting strategies and software. While supporting growth at Corderman, she is also pursuing an advanced accounting certification at Northeastern University.
Maurice has also been involved with the Tynan P. Elementary School in South Boston, which serves a diverse mix of students, including many who are unhoused or have special needs. She also leads an annual holiday gift drive for students in need.
Liam Murphy
33, Sustainable designer helps institutions grow responsibly
Associate Principal
BR+A
Boston
Murphy is leading critical conversations at BR+A on sustainable design and implementation strategies for institutional work.
He currently manages projects at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, ranging from equipment replacements to its $75-million emergency department renovation. Murphy also oversees projects at high-performing research laboratories, including the Lafayette College Rockwell Integrated Science Center, which is certified as LEED platinum.
Murphy helped organize BR+A’s mentor program, which helps onboard staff more quickly. He also is actively involved in adding input to company strategies that are related to sustainability and is a “big advocate for leading discussion on heat recovery chiller design and implementation for institutional work,” according to the firm.
At the 2023 planning, design and construction national summit held by the American Society for Health Care Engineering—a well attended event in the profession—Murphy gave a presentation on laboratory electrification approaches. He also helps lead business development efforts to assist firm efforts to grow business with new clients.
As a manager of many infrastructure replacement projects at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, he leads a team that has replaced outdated equipment and upgraded building efficiencies.
Murphy is an active member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and leads the company nonprofit unit that fundraises and organizes donation drives for families during the holidays.
Drew Parkinson
39, Boston landmark project work solidifies passion for construction
Senior Superintendent
Suffolk
Boston
Parkinson has amassed a wealth of experience on a range of large and complex projects in his 18 years in the construction industry, Suffolk says.
Working on the renovation to transform Boston’s Charles St. jail into the Liberty Hotel—while involved in the contractor’s co-op program—solidified his passion for construction.
Since then, Parkinson has expanded his knowledge through work on some of Suffolk’s most challenging projects. He was superintendent for Encore Boston Harbor, a 3.2-million-sq-ft resort that was completed in 34 months, and on Boston’s 1.1-million-sq-ft., 60-story Millennium Tower, the city’s third-tallest building at the time of its completion in 2016.
As senior superintendent on Suffolk’s 62-story, 1.8-million-sq-ft Winthrop Center, Parkinson directly managed a team of 10. The center's tower, completed in August, is Boston’s second-largest vertical development and the largest Passive House building in the world.
Parkinson is also actively involved as a mentor at Suffolk. He serves on the contractor’s national safety committee and joins with firm leaders to develop curriculum for an 18-month accelerated superintendent training program.
Dedicated to community outreach, Parkinson’s team partners with Building Pathways, a Boston nonprofit aimed at providing a pathway into the construction field for low-income area residents. He also volunteers for Build It, a local carpentry pre-apprenticeship program for women. He also spends some Saturdays giving project site tours to students at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, Boston’s only vocational high school.
Eric Thornley
38, Structural engineer is an emerging national bridge expert
Assistant Regional Manager
Collins Engineers Inc.
Norwood, Mass.
Seeking to better the structural engineering industry through participation in technical communities, Thornley is emerging as a skillful leader supporting a range of bridge projects nationwide, Collins Engineers says.
Thornley has gained experience in 37 states as well as in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario and the territory of Yukon working on a range of bridges, including those for highway, aviation, utility and railroad uses. Thornley has worked on a mix of long-span complex bridge inspections over major river crossings across the U.S. His structural engineering and inspection skill set includes post inspection load rating and cost-effective retrofit solutions.
Elevated to assistant regional manager in 2023, he manages more than 20 staff members and supervises operations for highway and bridge design, water resources and structural inspection. Thornley also manages Northeast projects for clients that include the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation, Rhode Island Dept. of Transportation and Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority.
Thornley serves as chair of the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians, which oversees industry specific guidelines for authorized workers. In May, he hosted the first group event in New England. Thornley is also a member of the American Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association’s timber structures committee and its seismic design for railway structures committee after its involvement following a 7.1 earthquake in Anchorage in 2018.
